A local fish and chip business owner has been forced to adapt due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Despite being considered a quintessentially British dish, four key ingredients of the Friday chippy tea are typically imported from Russian and Ukraine, the National Federations of Fish Friers (NFFF) have warned.

The NFFF has claimed that around 50 per cent of sunflower oil used in the UK’s fish and chip shops comes from Ukraine, while 40 per cent of cod and haddock comes from Russia.

Tasos Pattichis is the owner of Olympus Fish and Chip Restaurant that has stood on Great Moor Street since 1988.

He says the conflict in Ukraine has forced him to change the way his business operates.

“At the moment, Ukraine and Russia are the leaders in a lot of the raw material,” he said.

“I used to use their products and now other things have come on the market from different areas and you have to diversify.

“When you’re looking at the alternatives you’ve got to keep the standard. You can bring the standard down but it’s not really my profile to do this.

“So, I’ve got to look at better or the same quality in a different area. I am searching even today – ringing round, checking out, being on the phone and it’s not bad but it’s not easy.

“You’ve got to be quite ruthless. You can’t keep raising the prices. You’re looking at the general public.”

The Bolton News: Olympus Fish and Chip Restaurant Olympus Fish and Chip Restaurant

This all comes on the back of a pandemic that was catastrophic for the food and drink and hospitality industries in particular, and in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis which makes running a business even more difficult.

Mr Pattichis, whose business employs around 20 people, said:“We are in a situation now with prices escalating due to uncertainty, and when a business is trying to do a business plan and there’s uncertainty it’s quite dangerous.

“At the moment my gross profit is okay. My problem, and other businesses’ problem is that if you don’t keep your margins you’ll never survive.

“How do I keep my margins when even petrol now is escalating?

“At the moment, this unpredictability is destabilising everything. I know businesses that have already gone down.

"It’s a gambling act. Deciding how much to sell it for. How much people can afford?

“If you go beyond that it’ll be like the straw that broke the camel’s back and that is the bottom line for any businessman – how far does he go before that straw breaks the camel’s back.”